Chasing Sustainability - Asset Owners’ Paradox

Prof. Judith Walls is Professor and Chair of Sustainability Management at the Institute and Director at the Economy and the Environment (IWÖ-HSG) and also the Delegate for Responsibility and Sustainability at the University of St.Gallen. She was an assistant professor at Nanyang Business School (NTU) in Singapore (2013-2018) and the John Molson School of Business (Concordia) in Montreal (2009-2012) and completed a post-doctoral research fellowship at the Erb Institute, University of Michigan (2007-2009).

She holds a PhD in Management from RPI, an MBA from the National University of Singapore, and an MSc in Biodiversity, Wildlife and Ecosystem Health from the University of Edinburgh. She has published award-winning articles in leading academic journals on the topic of corporate governance and sustainability performance. Prior to academia, Judith Walls worked in investor relations consulting in Europe and Asia and at wildlife and biodiversity NGOs in Africa and Mongolia.

Pierre Cardon, CFA, is Senior Strategist within the Banking Department of the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) in Basel, Switzerland.

Pierre has held senior management positions at the BIS for more than thirty years, mainly building global asset management services for central banks and official institutions. He also coordinates key cooperative initiatives, such as the Green Bond Fund and the Asian Bond Fund. He actively promotes environmental sustainability across BIS financial assets. 

Responsible for the BIS Pension Fund, Pierre has served as Secretary to the BIS Pension Fund Committee since 1998 and as Advisory Committee member of the European Pension Fund Investment Forum since 2002.

Pierre also served as a Member of the CFA Institute’s Board of Governors from 2006 to 2012 and of the Board of Directors of the Swiss CFA Society from 2004 to 2006.

Pierre holds an MA in Economics from the University of Louvain-la-Neuve in Belgium and an MBA from the University of Chicago.

Diego Liechti, PhD, is the CIO of Nest Sammelstiftung, a Swiss pension fund that is a pioneer in sustainable investing. He also sits in various Boards and Investment Committees. In addition, he is a lecturer at the AZEK and at the Lucerne University of Applied Sciences.

Previously, he was an associate lecturer for Risk Management at the University of Bern, a Senior Investment Consultant and Head of Research at PPCmetrics, a researcher at the University of Berne, at Columbia Business School in New York, and at INSEAD Business School in France. Diego has a PhD in Finance from the University of Berne as well as a Master’s degree in corporate finance and asset pricing.

Fiona Frick is a highly accomplished professional and investment specialist with over three decades of hands-on experience in the Financial Industry as a practitioner, Board Member and CEO.

Fiona began her career in 1990 at Unigestion, an international asset manager, as a fundamental analyst and then investment manager in high yield and convertible bonds. She became CEO in 2011. She successfully diversified Unigestion’s activities into Private Equity and led Unigestion to become a recognized player in sustainable finance.

In 2023, after 32 years at Unigestion, Fiona decided to create her own consulting company, Circe Invest, around the themes of asset allocation and sustainability, as well as serving on boards of directors. Fiona currently sits on the boards of Swiss Sustainable Finance and Sustainable Finance Geneva. She was appointed as a board member of BofA Securities Europe in December 2023. Fiona has also gained wide recognition in the financial industry and academia as a respected speaker on economics, financial markets, investment allocation and the rise of sustainable finance. She has been recognized by the financial industry as one of the most influential women in European finance.

Fiona holds a Master’s degree in Business Administration from the Institut Supérieur de Gestion (I.S.G.) in Paris and a degree in Literature and Philosophy from the University of Dijon. She has also completed several executive programs at IMD, IESE and Harvard Business Schools.

Dr. Ingeborg Schumacher-Hummel has more than 25 years of experience in the field of sustainable investments. With her company Responsible Impact Investing she advises investors and financial service providers on the development and implementation of sustainable investment strategies. Clients are mainly institutional investors, especially pension funds. In her mandates the focus is not only on strategic positioning, but also on implementation processes, such as the search for external partners or setting up operational processes for ESG quality assurance.

After completing her studies in business administration and ecology, Ingeborg Schumacher held various positions in asset management or at private banks. Her roles included building up the sustainable fund range at UBS, implementing a responsible investing strategy at a private bank and, most recently, the role of Head Sustainability at an asset manager that specializes in sustainable credit strategies. 

In addition to her professional practice in the context of sustainable investing, she is active in research and teaching: in parallel to working at UBS, she wrote a dissertation on the role of pension funds as active shareholders. Currently, Ingeborg Schumacher works as an external lecturer at various academic institutions, including at ZHAW in the context of the CAS Financial Planning and Sustainable Investing and at the School for Employee Pensions in relation to its diploma training and the training for pension fund managers. She also designed the course "ESG-CA: ESG for client advisors" for the Swiss AZEK.

On top of her role as a board member of the Sustainable Investment Forum, she is a member of various investment committees, including the Investment Committee of the Servisa Collective Foundation and the Investment Committee of Swiss Life Select. Not only does she engage as a member of the investment committee, but is also involved in other internal strategic processes on ESG integration.

Danae Motta is the SI and Engagement Specialist of the Robeco Fashion Engagement Equities strategy. She joined Robeco in March 2020 as Sustainable Investing Analyst within Robeco’s Sustainable Investing Research team, focusing on the Consumer Discretionary sector. Within her role as SI Analyst, she was responsible for writing SI Profiles for Consumer Durables and Apparel, supported the development of Robeco’s SDG and Biodiversity Framework, and has co-developed Sectoral Decarbonization Pathways for the agricultural and land sector and co-authored Robeco’s Future of Fashion whitepaper.

Previously, she worked for three years at MPower Ventures AG, a start-up distributing affordable solar energy products in emerging markets, where she co-led the company’s market entry in Cameroon. She started her career working at the Environmental Department of Canton Ticino in 2017, where she focused on Environmental Impact Assessments for the industrial sector.

Danae holds a Bachelor in Environmental Sciences from the University of Lausanne and a Master in Climate Sciences from the University of Bern.

Dora Buckulcikova is Lead Portfolio Manager of Robeco Fashion Engagement Equities, Portfolio Manager of Robeco MegaTrends/Rolinco and member of the Thematic Investing Team. She joined Robeco in 2021.

Dora holds experience as a buy-side research analyst and investment manager with Baillie Gifford for 6 years. Previously, she was a research consultant for a UK-based global impact fund, providing long-term fundamental and sustainability-focused investment research.

Dora is a CFA® Charterholder and obtained her Master of Arts in Economics and Chinese from the University of Edinburgh.

Dr. Alex Tobler has been Head of Investment Architecture since 2020. In this role, he is responsible for the investment process and the ESG strategy within the Investment Solutions unit.

His previous positions include Head of Investment Advisory at Berner Kantonalbank and Portfolio Manager at Picard Angst AG.

He holds a Master's degree in Banking & Finance from the University of Zurich and a PhD in Business Ethics from the University of St. Gallen. Furthermore, Alex Tobler is a CFA Charterholder.

Ruben Feldman has been Deputy Head of ESG Strategy & Development since 2020. As such, he is responsible for the sustainability strategy, its implementation and further development across all asset classes.

His previous positions include Head of Quantitative Research & Licensing at RobecoSAM and Global Head Index Concepts at index provider Stoxx.

Ruben Feldman holds a Bachelor's degree in Mathematics from Trinity College Dublin and a Master's degree in Financial Engineering from UC Berkeley, as well as an Executive MBA from IMD.

Adrian Schatzmann became CEO of the Asset Management Association Switzerland (AMAS) in January 2021. He is also a Board Member of the European Fund and Asset Management Association (EFAMA) and President of the Board of Directors of Swiss Fund Data AG.

Adrian Schatzmann has been working in the asset management industry for almost 30 years, including numerous management positions at UBS in Switzerland and Asia, including Head of Global Sales for investment funds and ETFs.

He studied economics at the University of St. Gallen. Adrian Schatzmann has four children and enjoys spending his free time in the mountains, whether on his bike or on ski.

Jürg Tobler, PhD is the Head of Investments at the Pension Fund City of Zurich since 2011. He joined the investment department in 2006.

Before, he was with Cantonal Bank of Zurich as Head of Fixed Income Research and in the Asset Management.

Jürg Tobler is a Member of the "Kommission für Anlagefragen" of the Swiss Pension Funds Association (ASIP).

Dr. Philippe Lionnet is Co-Head of the Policy Issues & International Relations unit at the State Secretariat for International Finance (SIF), Swiss Federal Department of Finance. 

Following roles in the private sector and academia, Philippe joined federal public service at the Department of Foreign Affairs (FDFA) where he worked, inter alia, on institutional issues in Swiss-EU relations and the linking of Swiss and EU emissions trading systems. Several positions at the Directorate for Foreign Economic Affairs at the State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO) followed, representing Switzerland in multilateral (e.g., WTO, TISA, OECD, EFTA, UNCTAD, Agreement on Climate Change, Trade and Sustainability ACCTS) and bilateral (e.g., FTAs, MRAs, trade arrangements after ‘Brexit’) negotiations and fora. 

Furthermore, he was responsible for the Federal Council’s annual reports on foreign economic policy to both chambers of parliament as well as member of the Foreign Economic Policy Strategy drafting group. Before transferring to SIF, he was in charge of bilateral economic relations with the US, Canada and Mexico (USMCA). 

Philippe holds a PhD (Dr. phil.) in Economic History from the University of Bern as well as master’s degrees from the Universities of Zurich (LLM) and Basel (MA). He lives in Zurich.

Sabine Döbeli has worked in the field of sustainable finance for over 20 years in different roles. She is the CEO of Swiss Sustainable Finance (SSF), an organization that was established under her lead in 2014 with the objective of making Switzerland a leading voice and actor in sustainable finance.

Previously, she was Head of Corporate Sustainability Management at Vontobel where she was responsible for the sustainability strategy at group level and sustainable investment services in asset management. At Zürcher Kantonalbank she built up the sustainability research unit within the financial research department and contributed to the launch of various sustainable investment products.

Sabine holds a Masters in Environmental Sciences from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH) Zurich and a post-graduate degree in business administration and marketing at the University of Basel. She is a member of the Advisory Committee on International Cooperation of the SwissFederal Council (BK IZA) to the Swiss Government, of the Research Advisory Council of the Swiss Federal Office for the Environment (FOEN) and of the advisory councils of the Sustainable Digital Finance Alliance (SDFA) as well as of Stiftung Drittes Millenium.

Sébastien Bourget joined Quaero Capital SA in 2014 as Head of Quaero European Infrastructure Fund and Managing Partner.

Sébastien has a strong expertise in infrastructure finance. He notably worked at Edmond de Rothschild since 2006 within the infrastructure and project finance advisory department, where he successfully led several landmark transactions in areas such as railways, motorways, social, utilities, renewables and telecom. 

Sébastien gained a MPhil in private law from the University of Paris I – La Sorbonne and the Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales, a MSc specialized in project finance from the Ecole Nationale des Ponts et Chaussées and the University of Paris X, and is graduated from the Rouen Business School (Neoma).

Antoine Turrettini joined Quaero Capital SA in 2014 as Investment Director for Quaero European Infrastructure Fund.

Previously, Antoine worked at Edmond de Rothschild within the infrastructure and project finance advisory department. He was notably involved in the financial structuring of landmark infrastructure transactions in areas such as railways, motorways, social, utilities & renewables mainly in Europe. Before joining the infrastructure team in 2008, he had an experience within the Corporate Finance department of Edmond de Rothschild in London focusing on M&A transactions. He also had a work experience at Orbis Investment Advisory in London.

Antoine is a graduate from the European Business School London in International Business with major in Finance.

Rachel Whittaker is Head of the Sustainable Investing Research Team and Member of the Executive Committee at Robeco Switzerland Ltd. She previously worked for Robeco from 2015 to 2017 as a Senior SI Analyst and rejoined to lead the team in 2021. In the interim she worked at UBS as SI strategist in the CIO Office of the global wealth management arm. She now leads an international team of 18 SI analysts focused on evaluating the impact of ESG topics on industries and investments, and is a member of Robeco's strategic SI committees.

Prior to joining Robeco in 2015, Rachel worked in SI specialist roles for the UN PRI, Vontobel Asset Management, and Mercer’s Investment Consulting business. She started her career in 2000 as a sell-side equity research analyst.

Rachel earned her undergraduate degree at the University of Cambridge, and an MSc in Corporate Environmental Management at the University of Surrey, UK. She is a CFA charterholder.

Luzius Neubert, PhD, CFA is a Partner and Member of the Management Board at the investment consulting firm PPCmetrics. He advises investors on ESG matters as well as on strategic asset allocation, asset manager selection and other investment consulting and controlling issues. Before becoming a Partner, he built up PPCmetrics’ ESG team and headed it for several years. 

Luzius studied Finance at the University of Zurich and wrote his doctoral thesis on “Financial Management of Nonprofit Organizations”. He is a lecturer at different universities and other educational institutions. Luzius Neubert is married, has two children and lives in Winterthur.

Thomas Tscherrig, with a foundation in Computer Science from ETH Zurich, is a Certified International Investment Analyst (CIIA) and holds a CFA Certificate in ESG Investing.

Over 20 years at bmpi AG, including 12 in executive leadership, Thomas has steered investment and sustainability reporting. In recent months, he implemented the ASIP standard, which bmpi now offers as a service for institutional investors.

Claudia Zimmermann is the Founder & Managing Director of C-Advisory GmbH. The firm advises and supports companies and organisations in the private and public sectors with a focus on ESG and digitalisation. In addition, Claudia is on the board of Swiss companies in the areas of Financial Services (Banking, Private Equity), International Development, Real Estate and Sustainable Energy. She is also a mentor/juror in the start-up challenge >>venture>> of ETHZ / EPFL. Claudia has many years of management and professional experience in international companies in the fields of ICT, industry, private equity, financial and strategy consulting.

Claudia is a CFA charterholder and holds a degree as business economist, as well as a CAS in Applied History from the University of Zurich. Since 2022, Claudia is a member of the ESG Committee of CFA Society Switzerland.

Dr. Lars Kaiser, PhD, is Head Group Sustainability at VP Bank AG. He oversees the group wide sustainability-related investment and credit activities, as well as leading corporate sustainability actions and reporting requirements.

Formerly, he was assistant professor for sustainable finance at the University of Liechtenstein. He is the author of "ESG guidance for Swiss pension funds" by the Swiss Pension Fund Association (ASIP) and was member of their working group on the ESG reporting guidelines. Moreover, he has written an extensive report for the Swiss Federal Office for the Environment (BAFU) on climate related impact by financial market participants. He is a frequent speaker at academic and practitioners’ conferences.

Antonio Hautle is since 2015 the Executive Director of the UN Global Compact Network Switzerland & Liechtenstein.

Prior to this position, he was the Director of Fastenopfer (Development NGO) from 2001 until 2013 and the Director of the Social Department of the State of Lucerne from 2013 until 2015.

Hautle has a background in Philosophy, Business Ethics and Catholic Theology (Elève titulaire, Ecole Biblique et Archéologique Française Jérusalem, Master Pontificia Università Gregoriana, Rome) and holds a Master in Business Administration from the HEC University of Geneva.

Clara Melot is a Stewardship Specialist within the PRI's Sustainable Financial System's team where she currently focuses on stewardship best practice and resourcing by Asset Owners and Asset Managers. 

Prior to joining the PRI in early 2022, Clara spent 5 years leading the Zoological Society of London's financial sector engagement strategy, encouraging informed financial sector engagement on sustainable commodity supply chains and wider biodiversity issues. Previous roles also include working for environmental law and conservation NGOs such as WWF and ClientEarth on issues including natural resource governance and human rights, deforestation and timber legality. 

Clara has an MSc in Environmental Policy and Regulation from the London School of Economics and an MRes in Information and Communication sciences from La Sorbonne University. 

Maria Victoria (Mavic) Cuevas Pautonnier, CPA, is the Investor Relations Director & ESG Head at Novartis, leading the global ESG engagement strategy. In her role, Mavic prioritizes cultivating meaningful relationships with external and internal stakeholders. Her expertise extends to providing guidance on ESG and sustainability initiatives, as well as monitoring of legal, regulatory, and market risks. Mavic actively contributes to the development of thought leadership content, providing crucial inputs for management decisions.

With a finance background of more than 15 years, Mavic's experience includes contributions to process improvement projects during her tenure at Unilever and Nestle.

Beyond her professional life, Mavic is a devoted wife and mother of one. Outside of work, she enjoys spending quality time with her family, practicing yoga, cross-country skiing and hiking, and pursuing her interest in learning the French language.

Vincent Kaufmann has been the CEO of Ethos Foundation and Ethos Services since June 2015. Vincent joined Ethos in 2004 as a Corporate Governance Analyst, later becoming a Senior and Deputy Head Corporate Governance. He has been Member of Ethos Services’ Management in charge of investment since 2011 and deputy CEO since 2013.

Since June 2019, he has been a Member of the Board of Swiss Sustainable Finance. Vincent Kaufmann, a Swiss Certified Expert for Accounting and Controlling since 2009, holds a Master’s degree in Business Economics of the University of Geneva (2004).

Eric Nussbaumer currently chairs the Swiss National Council (1 year term 2023/24). Eric has been a Member of the National Council since 2007, where he is a Member of the Environment, Spatial Planning and Energy Committee (UREK), the Foreign Affairs Committee (APK) as well as the delegation to EFTA and for relations with the European Parliament. From 1998 to 2007, he was a member of the Basel-Landschaft Cantonal Parliament.

From 2008 to 2016, Eric was Chairman of the Board of Directors of Alternative Bank Schweiz AG, and from 2017-2023 he chaired the Swiss umbrella organization SENS for Social Entrepreneurship. From 1988 to 2009, Eric was Managing Director and from 2010 to 2023 Chairman of the ADEV Group in Liestal, a pioneer in decentralized sustainable power & heat production based on citizen investments (nowadays “crowdfunding”).

Eric holds a degree as Qualified Electrical Engineer HTL. After working in electrical planning in Zurich and Romandie, he spent a year studying ethics/theology in the USA.